The word minimalism itself is self-explanatory, and in design I believe its an art of arranging basic optimum objects to make a complete sensible design. With simplistic strokes an artist tries to uncover different and often complex aspects of the subject. The process itself sounds like a complicated one and arguably minimalism can be considered as a refined form of art, the making of which involves cutting down on unnecessary complexities.

Being in the field of graphic design, one thing I could tell you is that a simple design is often the toughest challenge for any graphic designer. Most of the designers, whether he/she be working for a Web Page Design Company, Digital Print Media Company or is a freelance designer, would agree to the fact that giving a minimal look to his/her design that the world would comprehend in a likewise manner is a tough and time-consuming task. These designs, though, may look simple and unsophisticated but in actual are meant to look the way they are and simultaneously provide that easy understanding to the mass of people without them having to ponder  ”What was that?” One fleeting glimpse of the design and you know what’s it all about and perhaps even more.

Real branding is more about creating a reputation and dependency on a product rather than just an exaggerated publicity or developing a temporary infatuation among its buyers.

In India, many product names have ingrained themselves so strongly in the minds of their users that they have started identifying similar items with these names. Like for example, consumers call vegetable ghee as Dalda, a commonly used Vanaspati. Colgate too has developed such a strong branding that toothpastes, in general, are often referred to as Colgate.

Similarly, Coca Cola  tried duplicating this brand building with a tag line “Thanda Matlab Coca Cola” where they tried to position all “thanda“  (chilled drinks as Coca Cola but they were not so very successful in doing so. The reason being that , in order to create such lasting branding  there has to be a monopoly of the product in the market. Dalda and Colgate were launched when there was very little competition. Another reason was that the quality they offered was more superior to or as good as anything else that was in the market at the time. This gave them enough time to establish themselves as a brand that the consumers could trust. When Coca Cola arrived in Indian market there were many sift drink companies that had already set up shop. Also soft drink companies had similar ad campaigns that made it difficult for the consumers to identify one from the other.

Today, advertising agencies and industry experts try to recreate the magic by launching elaborate ad campaigns with celebrities from movie and sports industries to draw consumers but this is just another short-term attraction and not exactly brand building.

So what is real Brand Building?

Primarily Brand Building is about providing  a dependable and quality product to the user, so that over a period of time the user subconsciously starts identifying the product with the company. Xerox  (a manufacturer of photo-copying machines) products have become such a common sight in offices and photocopy booths that the company name is commonly used nowadays instead of the correct word ‘Photocopy’.

Providing impeccable service is an important factor in brand building. Google  is one great example where the search engine has grown into becoming such an integral part of all internet users that the word “search” has more or less been replaced by the word “Google”.

Another factor that helps in leaving a lasting impression is how the name of the company is projected. Which I believe is like getting dressed for the occasion. Great service provider and shabbily designed logo would in my opinion be like a loving husband dressed in shorts and some fancy shirt for his wedding anniversary party.  In contrast to that a simplistic yet meaningful logo/brand identity would leave a lasting impression even to those consumers who haven’t tried the product or service.

Photo: By Paulo Brandão

Since two years, I’m surfing through a variety of corporate tattoos like Nike swoosh tattoo and Adidas. Do you think people who exhibit these tattoos are paid to do so?? I explored into the subject deeper and came to a conclusion that none of those corporate tattoo exhibitors are paid. Those people are just loyal to those brands. Mostly designers are fascinated with Apple tattoo & sports person with sports brand tattoos.
I think a successful branding is what, which can leave a footprint of their existence in the viewers sub conscious state of mind. But corporate tattoo proves there is another pro successful branding process, which can motivate peoples to make tattoo for the brand.

While digging the topic I passed through a similar post which is wired here in brief.

There are all kinds of people with Apple tattoos, from graphic designers to leading academicians. Most have Apple’s famous logo tattooed on an arm, leg or their backside.
But it’s not really about advertising for Apple.”I’m a Mac freak,” said Mark Tappert, a graphics designer in Denmark who has a black Apple logo tattooed on his left biceps.
“I identify strongly with Apple and Mac computers,” he said. “I work on Macs every day, and a lot of nights. I got it done to convince myself I would always be true to Apple, not for religious or political reasons, but to convince myself that Macs are the way ahead.”
There are, of course, other corporate brands that inspire tattoos: Coca-Cola, Nike and Lacoste are some examples.

Apple is one of the few companies that inspire tattoos through pure love of the product. There are perhaps only two other companies that enjoy similar devotion: Harley Davidson and Campagnolo, an Italian bicycle parts company. Apple is certainly the only computer company with tattooed users.
The closest analogy is fans of sports teams, members of fraternities and other social groups, such as Marines, Manchester United soccer fans, gang members or fraternity brothers. And just as sports fans will often get team haircuts, Apple haircuts are another form of adornment peculiar to Mac fans.
“So many tattoos are about love, loyalty and bravado,” said Amy Krakow, author of The Total Tattoo Book. “Don’t Mac users fall into all those categories?”

Read the Wired story

Enjoy the Flickr group pool for Apple Tattoo

Due to over-work, I became mentally and physically restless so I thought of taking rest for a week or two. During those days, I was having a cup of coffee with a cigarette sitting on my lawn. Suddenly, my eyes revealed the simplicity of the logo of Marlboro on the cigarette packed. At that moment, I thought, “Who designed this logo?” so I turned on my system started looking for it. In that procedure I came through the “Millward Brown’s top 100 most powerful brands” in which I found the top 10 brands. So, I started looking for the history of logos of the top 10 brands and below came are the result of my thoughts…

Google

The current official logo represents the name “Google” in logo type based on the Catull typeface and was created by Ruth Kedar. Every once in a while, the company uses various features of the logo which compliment and refer to birthdays of famous personalities and holidays. These modifications have become known as Google Doodles and were first created by the fondaters of the company in 1999. The doodles are currently designed by Dennis Hwang who has created over 150 doodles since the year 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GE (General Electrics)

The entire logo is used to convey the meaning intended and avoid tarnishing or misrepresenting the intended image. The logo is a size and resolution sufficient to maintain the quality intended by the company or organization, without being unnecessarily high resolution. The image is used to identify the organization General Electric, a subject of public interest. The significance of the logo is to help the reader identify the organization, assure the readers that they have reached the right article containing critical commentary about the organization, and illustrate the organization’s intended branding message in a way that words alone could not convey.

Microsoft

The Microsoft logo is the ultimate example of “style meets simplicity”. The logo perfectly indicates the company’s mission of offering high quality products to its customers. The 2nd version of the Microsoft logo was fea fanciful lettered O in it. In 1987, Scott Baker adopted the current Microsoft logo. As it was designed in Helvetica italic typeface, the new logo had a slash between the o and s and featured the slogan ” Where do you want to go today?” As in 2006 the logo changed its tagline below the main corporate name into “Your potential, our passion.” In spite of all the transformations the Microsoft logo and its main message has remained largely unaffected.

 

 

Coca Cola

Who doesn’t know “coca cola”? its one of the worlds most recognized logos, the Coca-Cola brand started from the back 1886, where initially it was very famous in Atlanta Georgia because the city was the subject of local alcohol prohibition at the time. The signature used in the logo was sketched by their Publicity Director at the time, Franc Robinson.

 

 

China Mobile

China mobile ltd. is china’s domain mobile service provider; it is the world largest telecom by subscribers count. The company was registered in1997 under the name china telecom (Hong Kong) but changed its name in 2000 to china mobile (Hong Kong). China mobile has its head office in hung Kong and is a subsidiary company of china mobile communication.

 

 

 

 

 

IBM

The International Business Machines (1956) trademark of Paul Rand’s was developed from an infrequently used typeface called City Medium, designed by Georg Tromp in 1930. In the 1970s, Rand updated the logo by stripping it to unify the three forms and evoke scan lines on video terminals. During the late 1950s, Wilot Noyes IBM’s consulting design director sought “to express the extremely advanced and up-to-date nature of its products. To this end we are not looking for a theme but for a consistency of design quality which will in effect become a kind of a theme, but a very flexible one”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple

As the Company name is “apple”, they selected an apple as its main form of branding. The first logo of the company was a small apple shape sitting under a tree with Apple Computer Co set into the frame of the picture. The first logo was hard and complex to view, so Regis McKenna after some years later added a “bite mark” to symbolize the concept of seduction of the customers. Afterwards it was replaced with the rainbow-colored logo as in the Biblical story of Adam and Eve the apple represents the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The logo was considered lucky for the company as it did encourage business and customers to consider the apple brand for the first time and was successful in generating increased profits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McDonald’s

McDonalds is the largest and best-known chain of fast-food restaurants in the world. They have more than 23,000 restaurants in over 100 countries; The Golden Arches logo was created by Jim Schindler in 1962 to look like new arch shaped signs on the sides of the restaurants. They called the logo Golden arches firstly, to input the idea that owning one McDonalds franchise is like having a gold mine. Secondly, the arches symbolize a place to hide under, to escape. McDonalds logo have been seen more broadly as a symbol of capitalism or globalization, since they are the most famous American corporation to go global on a grand scale.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nokia

The first Nokia Company logo. What is the story about the fish? Salmon in the river near the Nokia factory? Nokia, Finnish Rubber Works Ltd. In addition to footwear and tyres, Nokia Rubber Works also manufactured rubber bands, industrial parts and raincoats.

The Nokia “arrows” logo before the Connecting People logo.

The Nokia “Connecting People” slogan was invented by Ove Strand berg.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marlboro

Marlboro is a brand of cigarette made by Philip Morris USA and by Philip Morris international. IT is famous for its billboard advertisements and magazine of the Marlboro man. The brand is named after great Marlborough Street, the location of its original London factory.

I have referred many sites but still I can’t find who designed the logo of Marlboro. If someone knows who designed or where I could find these then please share it with us all.

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